Six Science posts #88

Geometry and sunsets, the original emojis, shortest time internal and more

Author

Harshal Chhaya
September 21, 2025

If you appreciate someone’s work or their talents or whatever, let them know. Now!

I had recently started came across a trivia lover who posted a daily question on X and who loved sharing what they loved. I would occasionally reply with an answer, hit ‘like’ and move on. Found out that they passed away a couple of days back - a freak health issue. 😢 

On a more mundane note, last week had a special unique date - 9/16/25 (or 16/9/25 - doesn’t really matter, it was that awesome!)

The three parts form a Pythagorean triplet - 32 , 42 and 52 - three sides of a right-angled triangle. 😃 

Stay curious (and appreciative), friends!

#1 🤯 

The write up at https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/regions-on-asteroid-explored-by-nasas-lucy-mission-get-official-names/ has some really interesting information about origins of the names of the various regions.

Stay tuned at nasa.gov/lucy for more updates as the spacecraft Lucy continues its journey toward the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

#2 🤯 

I LOVE this explanation!

Science, math, and natural beauty - all in one post!

#3 🤯 

“I will be there in Planck time” is the new “Be there in a second”

#4 🤯 

Koshiba won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002, jointly with Raymond Davis Jr., "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos".

After retirement, Professor Koshiba became very enthusiastic about video games and once called himself “the world’s oldest gamer.” His favorite game was Final Fantasy.

(source: Wikipedia)

#5 🤯 

\o/

#6 🤯 

😮 

This is issue #88 Let’s see what makes 88 an interesting number:

  • Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word fā (發, which implies 發財, or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese).

  • In addition, 88 is also used to mean "bye bye (拜拜)" in Chinese-language chats, text messages, SMSs and IMs, because its pronunciation in Mandarin is similar to "bye bye".

  • In amateur radio, 88 is used as shorthand for "love and kisses" when signing a message or ending an exchange. These number codes originate with the 92 Code adopted by Western Union in 1859.

  • a palindromic number in bases 5 (3235), 10 (8810), 21 (4421), and 43 (2243).

  •  a strobogrammatic number

    A strobogrammatic number is a number whose numeral is rotationally symmetric, so that it appears the same when rotated 180 degrees. In other words, the numeral looks the same right-side up and upside down (e.g., 69, 96, 1001).

  • the largest number in English not containing the letter 'n' in its name, when using the system of numbers where 109 is a billion

  • Atomic number of Radium - symbol Ra, a volatile, lustrous and radioactive silvery-white metal

    • All isotopes of radium have half-lives much shorter than the age of the Earth, so that any primordial radium would have decayed long ago.

  • In the Back to the Future films, 88 miles per hour is the speed that Doctor Emmett Brown's Delorean car had to reach in order to attain time travel. (aside, the best movie EVAR!!)

  • In music, '88s' is slang for a piano, as a standard keyboard has 88 keys.

  • In astronomy, the International Astronomical Union lists 88 named constellations

  • There’s no country with 88 as the international calling code

 

About

This newsletter is my way of sharing interesting science-related news with my curious friends. I enjoy finding science and math connections in our world.

Please share this newsletter with others. Let’s encourage curiosity.

- Harshal (@hschhaya on X/Twitter)

That’s it for this issue.

Hit ‘reply’ to tell me what you think.

And hit ‘forward’ to share with your friends and family.

Let’s all celebrate science and engineering and curiosity.

Best wishes,

Harshal

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